1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming system comprising a plurality of slot machines and a method for controlling a gaming machine.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventional gaming machines such as slot machines are structured such that, during slot games, when a player inserts any number of medals into a metal insertion port and operates a start button, a plurality of symbols are scrolling-displayed in partitioned areas along a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows in a display and then are stopped, and when symbols stopped along a preset pay line form an winning combination or when a predetermined number of scatter symbols are stopped, payout is performed according to the number of inserted coins, as described in, for example, US 2002/0025843-A1.
There are gaming systems including a plurality of slot machines as described above and being configured such that the number of medals inserted in the plurality of slot machines is partially accumulated, and when symbols forming a predetermined winning combination are stopped, the number of medals corresponding to the accumulated number of inserted medals are paid out, as a jackpot.
In such gaming systems, the respective individual slot machines determine whether or not jackpots should be generated, which has induced the problem of difficulty in causing players playing games in the respective slot machines to have feeling of playing games for acquiring the same jackpots.
Also, there are gaming systems including a plurality of gaming machines and a specific device connected to these gaming machines, wherein the specific device is adapted to accumulate partially the number of medals inserted in the plurality of gaming machines and to determine the number of medals to be paid out in the respective gaming machines, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,484.
In such gaming systems, the aforementioned specific device determines the number of medals to be paid out in the respective gaming machines. In cases where the specific device determines payouts for the respective gaming machines as described above, the gaming machines connected to the specific device are machines dedicated to the specific device and cannot function as individual gaming machines, and further, the number of installed gaming machines is fixed, which have degraded the efficiency in some cases.
The present invention was made in view of the aforementioned problems and aims at providing a gaming system and a gaming-machine controlling method which enable efficient activation of gaming machines and also cause a plurality of players to have feeling of playing common games, thereby offering new entertainment characteristics.
The contents of US 2002/0025843-A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,484 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.